The Things We Never Say
By Elizabeth Strout
Random House, May 2026, 224pp.
The Short of It:
Not what I expected.
The Rest of It:
“Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days teaching history to eleventh graders, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbors, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation.”
I love Strout and have read and loved so many of her books, so I have to be honest that this one fell a little short for me. Artie is a genuinely nice guy, and I appreciated his vulnerability, but he never quite had that special something that makes Strout’s characters so deeply endearing and memorable.
He can be a little whiny, and his wife is truly awful. I could absolutely relate to his being blindsided by the secret she had been keeping from him, but the revelation was not quite enough to carry me through the story. I kept reading because it’s Strout, and there were still moments of emotional insight and quiet sadness that worked for me. Even so, I found myself setting the book aside more than once because the story felt a little heavy and, at times, depressing.
I do not shy away from difficult or melancholy books, but Artie was missing that heroic quality that makes you root for a character and feel deeply pulled into his journey. This was still a thoughtful, well-written novel, but it was just okay for me, especially compared with Strout’s other work.
Source: Borrowed
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I liked this for the most part but felt the politics were very heavy handed. I also found it hard to belive that Artie was supposed to be in his 50s!
YES!! I read to escape and even though I know this political hell we are all living in resonates with many, I don’t want to read about it. At all. Artie’s age was weird. I’ve come to the conclusion that this was kind of slapped together. He wasn’t fully fleshed out.
I just finished this book last night and I am struggling with what to think. I was shocked (is that the right word?) at how many times the topic or the act of suicide came up. I liked Artie but he surely didn’t advocate for his own needs. And I was completely exasperated by his wife. That scene when the psychologist is talking to her and all she can say is “I know.” So impatient and what, unloving?
I agree. It was all over the place. I liked Artie but did I care what happened to him? Not really. Like you said he just kind of lets things happen.
Hmmm. Think I’ll give this one a miss. I like Strout, but am not a die-hard fan like many bloggers.
This one IMO missed the mark. I couldn’t resonate with anyone.
I ended up really appreciating the book. I think Strout said a lot in it but it was hard to digest it immediately. As I sat with the book, I decided it needed an upgrade.
I did sit with it for a while but I don’t know, the main characters didn’t pull me in much. I still love her.
I didn’t love this one, as I have some of Strout’s previous novels, Ti. I’ve even forgotten some of the plotlines and it’s only been two months since I read it. From my review:
I can’t say that I loved this book, but I have a feeling that it’s one that I’ll read again. I do wish there weren’t quite so many parenthetical asides, as they interrupt the flow of the story. A few of these include revelations to key events several years before they take place. These glimpses into the future bothered me for some reason.
Valid. It definitely wasn’t one of the stronger ones.